Coffee in Paradise

It’s push comes to shove time, many of us are having to decide what we really need to shop for and what we can to without. In an attempt to stave off financial ruin, I have whittled my grocery list way down. I used to think I spent a lot on groceries, but it turns out my spending is average for the size of my family. I’m convinced my family is not really average and that I can bring my grocery bill down. It’s just one of the ways I’m choosing to economize in these interesting times.

I can’t find it in myself to give up my whole bean coffee, roasted to perfection by some corporate megalomaniac, I’m sure, but all the same I adore it. It’s worth waking up for. I can’t go with out my morning companion, and cheaper imitations just won’t do. They are to acidic, to light, to green, to pale, to mass produced, canned and vacuum sealed. They have no real personality; they just masquerade as having great depth. Their charm is gone the moment you get a whiff of their scent, like a guy wearing cheap cologne on a first date.

So in an attempt to economize, I have taken to actually measuring my beans to make each perfect cup o’ joe. I’m measuring the water too, so no left over, unused, unwanted, cold growing, stale cups of coffee get washed down the kitchen sink.

Into the grinder I carefully placed one and one half tablespoons of beans per cup o’joe. I ground the beans fine and dumped them into the French press coffee pot ( the only way to go if you really love the taste of coffee- no paper filter to soak up the delicate oils infused with essence of coffee tree, bloom and growth ).

One measured cup of steaming hot water for each cup of coffee followed.

I don’t know about you but I was fascinated to find that my coffee “cup” holds about two cups of coffee. I measured my china from the 30’s and 40’s and guess what? A cup held a cup. I wondered when we became such gluttons. Or were there copious cups all along, they just were not included with a set of delicate china? Did big mugs become fashionable in the 50’s? I had to know, it’s just me so I went on-line (don’t you love the internet?) and found this:

Archaeologists found mugs carved from bones dating to the Stone Age. The first coffee shop appeared in 1475 in Constantinople. The first coffee mugs were made out of wood during that time. In 1748, Britain banned coffee and all merchandise associated with it, including mugs. This led to a shortage of mugs, and the black market prices for mugs rose. DAMN! I sure am glad that I do not live in Britain in 1748!

Fascinating- but let us get back to the story-

I wrapped the coffee pot in kitchen towels to keep the heat in and let it set the required 4 minutes. Wa-la I mused as I poured the perfect cup of coffee. Steam rose to delight my nose as I lifted the mug and took a first sip.

Instantaneously it seemed that I had entered a worm hole and was projected back in time to a warm September afternoon. The sky was cloudless. Shade dappled the table I sat at, with tiny flutters of shadow in the warm breeze. The sun, just past mid point in the sky reflected a billion diamond like wave caps off the distant ocean, laid out before me with no end in sight. From my seat at the top of the island, I could see coast line curve for many miles before it wandered around the island, the ocean surrounding it like a square dancers skirt in full twirl. The dust had settled on the dirt road, the last car passed half an hour ago and the only sounds were the call of birds I could not identify in the distance, as they meandered through the coffee plantation, and the low hum of the coffee roaster in the plantation’s thatched roof “factory and retail shop” down the walk to my right. The flagstone patio was empty; presumably the tourists were off pursuing more aquatic interests in the heat of the day.

The cup of coffee in front of me was hot, and made the air seem cool, a respite from the humid warmth of the big island air. The coffee was dark and rich, tasting like once ancient volcanic lava now weatherized to a soft black nutrient rich soil, and sweet dreams of paradise and sea turtles and palm trees and orchid leis.

A moment later I was back in the kitchen, - Wow! That is one good cup of coffee. I'm making it just like that from now on. The unexpected mini vacation-in-my-mind just the icing on the cake of a great economical cup 'o joe.